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Thursday, June 5, 2014

Niçoise salad - an evening of ambitious cooking

The other night I
pulled into the grocery store parking lot, and inspiration struck: tonight I
will learn to make Niçoise salad!

I first tried a Niçoise salad a few months ago while my family was
in Whistler skiing. We were dining at Araxi, the food was divine, the wine list
was sensational, and I’ve been obsessed with trying this dish for myself ever
since.

I love to cook, and I
am a firm believer in trying new things, but if inspiration strikes you while
arriving at the grocery store, just go home. Otherwise you will learn two
things the hard way

This is going to be
an expensive shopping trip

The preparation
time before you can eat is FAR longer than you think

With that in mind,
this salad actually turned out petty delicious, so I'm not only going to write
out the recipe, but order it in such a way that you can cut down your time by
multi tasking (something the recipe I followed did NOT do, which led to poorly
budgeted time and a hungry-hungry-Laura!)

Niçoise Salad – Serves
4

Start with your
Dressing:

Ingredients:

3 anchovy fillets, drained

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

3 gloves chopped garlic

1 large egg

2 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp Dijon mustard (I use whole grain Dijon mustard)

½ cup light olive oil

2 tsp capers, drained and chopped (optional but VERY
nice)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mash
the anchovy, salt, pepper and garlic into a paste. I used a fork, but I would
recommend grabbing your pestle and mortar if you have them! Add the egg and
whisk well to blend.

Add the lemon juice
and mustard and whisk well until a bit frothy. Pour in the oil, whisking
constantly until dressing is nice and thick.

Add in the capers and
adjust your seasoning to taste. Then pop it in the fridge, covered, until you’re
almost ready to eat!

Now it’s time to prep your salad.

Salad Fixings -

Ingredients:

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced

8-10 mini red potatoes, scrubbed and cut
length wise in half

¾ cup of green beans, trimmed and quartered

Fresh Atlantic Salmon Steak – roughly 2lbs (OR
TUNA)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 Tbs olive oil

2 Tbs fresh rosemary

Handful (approx ½ cup) Cherry tomatoes, cut in
half

1/3 cup halved and seeded black olives (Niçoise
if you can get them! But Kalamata works fine)

1/3 cup
halved and seeded green olives

½ cup thinly sliced red onion

A few anchovy fillets cut into thirds width
wise (I just used what was left in the container from making the dressing)

1 head of romaine lettuce

2 tsp chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

1) Start by hard boiling your eggs. If you've never done this before
(I hadn't!) there’s a great “how to” here.

2) Once those are in the “simmering” phase, bring a pot of salted
water to boil. Add the potatoes and cook until JUST tender. Drain in colander
and set aside. Repeat this same step but with the green beans. Mix these in a
medium sized bowl and put them aside.

By the time this is done you’re ready to take your eggs out to
cool.

3) Next, grab your fish. I used a thick salmon steak because I’m not
a huge fan of tuna, but if you want to do it properly, use the tuna. Cut your
fish into 4 equal portions and season with the salt and pepper. Next heat the
oil on the stove in a large skillet. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the
rosemary and tuna. It’s best to cook to a medium rare (mine was a VERY light
pink in the middle) but I’m going to say “cook until you’re comfortable”.
Remove your fish from the pan and cut into 1-inch pieces, Cover and set aside
(I actually put mine in the fridge to cool)

4) While your fish is cooling down a bit, you can chop up the rest of
your fixings. Start with the olives, tomatoes and red peppers. Slice according
to the “ingredients” list. Once they’re all chopped, arrange separately on one
side of a nice tray.

5) Your eggs should be nice and cool by now, so peel and slice those
up (I cut mine into thirds width wise) along with the extra anchovy fillets and
arrange them along the top of the tray

6) Grab the green beans and potatoes. Take your dressing and pour ¼ cup
of dressing over top and mix. Once they’re nice and coated, arrange them on the
opposite side of the tray from where your olives are.

You’ll notice a big empty hole in the middle of your tray! Let’s
fill it with the green stuff! Wash and tear your salad into bite sized pieces.
Throw it into a bowl with the parsley and then pour over some of your dressing and mix it up - don’t
drown it, just coat it lightly. Arrange it in the middle of the tray, then take
your fish and place it on top of the lettuce!

If you wanted, you could forgo the tray and just throw everything
into a bowl… but I promise you the tray is much prettier!

You’re done! Pop it on the table and then tell people to select
what they want for their plates. Put any
extra dressing in a nice bowl or gravy boat, just in case people feel they want
to add more (I did!).

This was a GREAT summer meal. Kris and I felt so fancy eating it. It
would be a fabulous addition for a picnic, or served as an appetizer (just
adjust for numbers!).